Wreck-indicating buoy.



W. SLAWSKI. WRECK INDICATING BUOY. APPLICATION FILED 00129. 1918.

I Patented Feb. 18, 1919.

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WLADYSLAW SLAWSKI, or GLASSBORO, NEW JERSEY.

WRECK-INDICATING BUOY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 18, 1919.

Application filed October 9, 1918. Serial No. 257,477.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WLADYSLAW SLAWSKI, a citizen of Russia, residing at Glassboro, in the county of Gloucester and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wreck-Indicating Buoys, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in wreck indicating buoys and has among its objects the provision of such type of device which is extremely durable in construction andeffioient in operation. 7 i

The primary object of the present invention is to provide the float member of a wreck indicating buoy with an electrical illuminating means whereby the float may be visible at night, novel means being provided to close the circuit of the electrical illuminating means as well as to holdthe circuit open when the buoy is operatively positioned upon the deck of a ship;

With the above general objects in View and others that will become apparent as'the nature of the invention'is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction,

. form and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, shown in the accompanying drawings and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, in WlllCll like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views, Figure 1 is a side elevational View of a ship floating upon the water and having the present invention associated therewith;

which is shown in vertical section;

v Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken through a fragment of a tube carried by the float and showing the illuminating means;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view of the device shown in Fig. 4 taken substantally upon line 5-5 of Fig.4;

' Fig. 6 is a detail view in central trans-v verse section of the movable circuit closing member; and r I Fig. 7 is a diagrammtic view of the circuitclosing means, the electric lamp and the battery, and showing the circuit between the same.

Referringmore in detail to the several views, the present invention is shown applied to a ship 5 and is arranged at any desirable point upon the deck 6 thereof. A suitable depending frame 7 is secured against the under face of the deck 6 as at 8, and has a transverse base member 9 in which the axle 1.0 of a vertical reel 11 is journaled, said reel being provided with a. pulley 12 at the lower end thereof by means of which the same may be rotated, either by hand, or by belt gearing to any suitable motor, not shown.

A tube 13 has its upper end in registry with an opening 14 provided through the deck 6 and has its lower end rigidly connected to a flared guide 15 from the base of which are extended curved supporting legs 16 whose flanged lower ends 17 are secured as at 18, to the base member 9 of the frame 7.

A flared band 19 is rigidly supported horizontally a suitable distance above the deck 6 concentric with the aperture 14 by means of legs 20 whoselower flanged ends are secured as at 21 to the deck 6 and whose upper ends are rigidly fastened as by means of rivets 22 to said band 19.

A float member 23 is adapted to be supported by the band 19 as shown in Fig. 3 with the lower frusto-conical portion of said float fitting snugly in the band 19 as illustrated, said float having a tube 24 extending axially therethrough from its lower end to a point some distance beyond the upper end thereof.

A suitable flag or other signal 25 may be attached to the upper end of the tube 24, and at a point slightly below the flag 25, the

tube 24 is provided with a plurality of openthe partition 28 and supports a suitable electric battery 32. At a point below the partition 31, an insulator block 33 is secured within the tube 24 by means of screws 34 or the like, and said block 33 has a contact plate 35 secured to the'upper face thereof which is electrically connected by means of a wire 36 to one terminal 37 of'thebattery32. A second insulator block 38, similar to the block 33 is secured within the'tube 2 L preferably at a point directly opposite to the block '33. Block 38 has a contact plate 39 secured to th upper face thereof which is electrically connected to one terminal 40 of a filament %1 of the lamp 29 by means of a wire42 (see Figs. 4 and 7). The other terminal L3 of the filament a1 is connected electrically by means of a wire 4% to the otherterminal of battery 32. It willnow be obvious that when electrical connection is established between plates 35 and 39, the filament 41 of lamp 29 will become incandescent, and in order to make this connection between plates 35 and 39, a means hereinafter described is provided.

.In practice, a suitable cable &6 is helically woundupon the reel 11, one end of said cable being attached to said reel and the other end'thereof being attached, as at $7, to the lower end of a vertical rod 48 which extends from a -point slightly below the'lower end of'float 23 to .a point within the tube 24 above the blocks33 and 38 and below the partition 31. It is notedythat the cable is extended from the reel l1 through the guide 15 and tube 13 and then attached to the rod 48.

A horizontal pulley-like plate 49 of insulating material isrigidly secured upon the upperend of rod 48 as clearly shown in "Figs. 4, 5 and'6 and said disk 49 has a suitable metallic band 50 embedded therein concentric with the rod A8, said band 50 being arranged to project a suitable distance below the disk 49 as shown more clearly in Fig. 6.

A suitable guide 51 is rigidlyfastened to extend transversely within the tube 24 and has the rod 48 extended therethrough so as to guide said rod in its longitudinal movementsaxially of the tube 24. When the float is positioned upon the deck of. a ship, as illustrated in Fig. 3, disk 49 is maintained in its upper position by means of a spring-pressed latch which is carried by the tube 2% and is arranged so that its inner end engages in the groove 53 of the disk 49. 'It will be seen that when the disk is maintained in this position, the band 50 does not contact the plates 35 and 39 and therefore the lamp 29 is not lighted. It is also noted that the spring 54 is only slightly tensioned to inwardly move the latch 52 so that only a slight pull is necessary to release the disk 49 from said'latch.

In operation, thefloat 23 is disposed as shown in Figs. 1 and 3 and, should the shiptor the purposes described.

surface of the water by theunwinding of cable MS from the drum 11 although said buoy 23 will at all times remain connected to-the ship As-thecable 46 is connected. to rod 48, any pull upon said cable, such as caused "by sudden sinking of the ship 5 or movement of the buoy 23 from the action of the waves, disk 49 will be pulledrout of engagement with latch 52 through the agency of rod 48 and will by its own weight lower so that band 50 bridges plates 35 and 39 at which time the lamp 29is lighted so that the float may be readily discerned at night-time.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen'that a serviceable wreck indicating buoy has "been provided which possesses great utility and which is effective in operation for the intended purposes, it being noted that the signal or flag 25 will be of value in casethe sinking of the ship 5 occurs in day time or in case the battery 32 becomes worn out before the buoy is discovered.

It is believed that'the construction and operation as well as vthe advantages and utility of the present invention will ,lb'et readily understood from the foregoing description by those skilled in the art, and while the form of the invention herein shown and described is what is believed to .be'the preferred embodiment thereof, it is nevertheless to be understood that minor below the latter in said tube, said circuit including apair of contacts arranged within said tube below said lamp, ,a .reciprocable circuit closer arranged within said tube above said contacts, a spring pressed latch carried by said tube arranged to engage said circuit closer to releasably maintain the same, in raisedv open position, arodslidably arranged within said tube and float and having said circuit closer mounted upon. the upper endthereof, and a"flexible cable hav ing one .end attached to the lower end of saidrold and adapted tohaveits other end connected to a ship, substantially :as and 2. A wreck indicatingbuoy comprising in combination with the deck of ashiphaving an aperture therethrough, .a float, means upon the deck of said shipto support said float above said aperture, afra-me suspended from said deck having a base member arranged below said aperture, a vertical reel rotat-ably supported upon said base member, a tube below said deck having its upper end in registry with said aperture and provided with a flared cable guide at the lower end thereof positioned above said reel, means connected to the bottom of said flared cable guide and to said base member of said frame to support said tube and cable guide above said reel, a cable normally wound upon said reel extended through said guide, tube, and deck aperture and connected to said float, and means upon the lower end 01 said reel to rotate the latter to wind said cable thereon.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

VVLADYSLAW SLAWSKI.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

